Claremont Library is closed through Saturday, May 25 due to A/C issues.
County Offices, Libraries, and Blackburn Construction/Demo Landfill are closed Monday, May 27 for Memorial Day.
Blackburn Sanitary Landfill, Convenience Centers and Catawba County Parks will be open.

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Positive Parenting Program

The growing Triple P parenting partnership in Catawba County is paving the way for more parents in more places to receive support and training on positive techniques to use with their children. Triple P stands for Positive Parenting Programs and is a collaboration among Catawba County Social Services and Smart Start, with additional contributions from Catawba County Public Health.

Triple P is a family support system that uses local people with special training who can give parents tools to create positive behavior change in their children. It is designed to prevent and treat behavioral and emotional problems in children and teenagers, and prevent problems in the family that can spill over from the family into schools and the community. The parenting method incorporates several behavioral theories to equip parents, and more than half of the program’s 17 strategies focus on parents developing positive relationships with their children, positive attitudes and positive conduct.

Smart Start recommended the program, which is evidence based and uses proven best practices. Smart Start worked with Catawba County Public Health and social services staff to begin training in 2016. Social Services then took on the lead role in implementing the program. A few months later, the state legislature gave Public Health $20,000 for programs that impact maternal and child health. Catawba County was one of the few counties that selected Triple P for that funding. A few months later, another $32,000 became available. Those funds strengthened partnerships and helped set up a Parent Support Council, and allowed for more people to be trained in Triple P methods.

More than 20 people have been trained, some of whom are part of the Parents as Teachers program, Public Health staff and school system retirees with experience in parenting work, social services and Children’s Resource Center staff, and staff from the Catawba County Partnership for Children. Training was specific to the individual and ranged from learning how to do brief sessions with parents to more extensive classes and seminars. There is also a training for parents of children with special needs.

The program has seen successes so far, with classes, community sessions and one-on-one sessions in progress.

Moving forward, Triple P will need ongoing support from the community and the group was challenged with getting people to rally around the program and continue to build on the framework already in place. Catawba County Public Health recently was awarded additional funding that is being used to train additional facilitators. Any child-serving organization or business can have trained staff members. This includes companies that have wellness programs and a lot of parents.